US President Joe Biden announced that he had reached an agreement with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the use of the proceeds of frozen Russian assets for their transfer to Kiev, reports Reuters, quoted by RIA Novosti.
After the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, the EU and the G-7 countries froze almost half of the foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation, amounting to approximately 300 billion euros. More than 200 billion euros are in the EU, mainly in the accounts of the Belgian Euroclear - one of the largest settlement and clearing systems in the world.
Earlier, US officials and Western media reported that the use of proceeds from frozen assets of the Russian Federation to repay a loan that the US could make to Ukraine is currently being discussed. According to the Financial Times, the United States is insisting that the G7 countries transfer a loan to Ukraine, which they propose to repay with the help of future revenues from Russian assets frozen in the West, mostly located in Europe. Previously, the EU countries planned to use the funds received from investing Russian assets to replenish a special fund for the purchase of weapons for Kiev.
The Kremlin said that taking such decisions would be another step in violating all the rules and norms of international law. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe a theft, noting that the EU is targeting not only the funds of private individuals, but also the state assets of Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Russian Federation also has the option not to return the funds that Western countries have kept in Russia.